Subject matter jurisdiction concerns what types of disputes may be heard by which courts.  All trial courts are courts either (1) of limited or special jurisdiction, or (2) of general jurisdiction.  Special jurisdiction courts are limited to certain types of cases, e.g. tax court, bankruptcy court, housing court.  Non-specialized, limited jurisdiction courts, at least on the state level, are usually limited to certain "size" cases, meaning smaller amounts of money in controversy in civil cases and lesser maximum penalties in criminal cases.  General jurisdiction courts usually have the power to hear more "kinds" of cases as well as larger "size" cases.  In addition to having either limited or general jurisdiction, all courts have either exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction in any particular category of cases.  Exclusive jurisdiction means that only one court has the power to hear a case, while concurrent jurisdiction means that more than one court would have the power to hear the case. 

 In addition to having limited or general jurisdiction, and exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction, all courts are courts either of original jurisdiction or appellate jurisdiction.  A court of original jurisdiction is a court that has the power to "try" a case, resolving the merits of a dispute by determining the facts, deciding the legal issues, and applying the law to the facts.  Original jurisdiction is also referred to as trial court jurisdiction, lower court jurisdiction, court of first instance, and nisi prius court.  Appellate courts review the legal rulings of lower courts.  Some courts have both original jurisdiction in certain types of cases and appellate jurisdiction in others. 

 Most states have a two-tier trial court system.  The lower trial court is usually a court of limited jurisdiction and the higher trial court is court of more general jurisdiction.  Frequently, there is some overlap, i.e. some concurrent jurisdiction, between the lower trial court and the higher trial court.  In Maryland, for example, the lower trial court is called the District Court of Maryland for __________ County (or Baltimore City).  The higher trial court is called the Circuit Court for __________ County (or Baltimore City).  For some types of cases, there is exclusive jurisdiction in either the district court or circuit court.  For example, the district court has exclusive jurisdiction over certain types of landlord-tenant cases, and the circuit court has exclusive jurisdiction over declaratory judgments.  For most cases, however, jurisdiction is determined by the amount in controversy in civil cases and the felony versus misdemeanor classification, or the maximum potential penalty, or both, in criminal cases.  Additionally, the district court hears only non-jury trials. 

 The federal court system has only one trial court level, called the United States District Court for the District of ___________.  The nation is divided into ninety-four districts, with each state having at least one district.  Maryland has one federal judicial district.  When a state has more than one district, its districts' names are based on geography, e.g. the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.  Sometimes a district court "sits" in multiple locations, which are called divisions.  Cases are usually heard by one judge, but are heard by a three-judge court.  Sometimes, usually by consent of the parties, cases are heard by a federal magistrate judge. Some federal trial courts have specialized jurisdictions, e.g. the United States Tax Court. 

 As noted above, a court of appellate jurisdiction has the power to review the legal rulings made by another court.  Although the court being reviewed is most often a trial court, it can be a lower appellate court or an administrative agency.  When a court exercises appellate jurisdiction, it is either hearing an appeal of right or a discretionary appeal.  An appeal of right means that one or more of the parties is entitled to appeal as a matter of law.  A discretionary appeal is one that may be heard only if the appellate court decides to grant an appeal.  An appeal of right is usually obtained by simply filing a notice of appeal.  A discretionary appeal, on the other hand, usually involves an appellate court issuing a writ of certiorari to the court below, in response to a party's petition for a writ of certiorari.  Most of the appeals heard by the Supreme Court of the United States, and the "courts of last resort" in the states, are discretionary appeals.  (Courts of last resort in the states are usually called supreme courts.  Two exceptions are New York and Maryland, in which the court of last resort is called the court of appeals.)  A typical appeal is heard "on the record," with each side filing an appellate brief, accompanied by the appropriate portions of the record of the case (e.g. of the pleadings, the trial transcript, and exhibits), and with each side presenting a brief oral argument.  However, in some "small" cases appealed from a lower level to a higher level trial court, the appeal may be a "re-litigation" of the trial.  The second trial or new trial, called a trial de novo, supersedes the original trial. 

 The majority of states nowadays have a two-tier appellate court system.  The lower appellate court generally is referred to as an intermediate appellate court and hears "appeals of right" from trial courts.  The higher appellate court generally is referred to as the "court of last resort" and hears discretionary appeals from the intermediate appellate court. 

 In Maryland, for example, the lower appellate court is called the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, and the higher appellate court is called the Court of Appeals of Maryland.  Every case in Maryland can have one appeal of right and the possibility of one discretionary appeal.  Cases that are tried in district court have an appeal of right to the circuit court.  (Thus, the circuit court, itself a trial court, also serves as an appellate court, hearing appeals from the district court.  Civil cases appealed from the district court to the circuit court are heard either "on the record" or by way of a trial de novo, depending upon the amount in controversy.  Criminal cases appealed from the district court to the circuit court have a trial de novo.)  Those cases may then be heard as discretionary appeals by the Court of Appeals.  Cases tried in a circuit court have an appeal of right to the Court of Special Appeals, which was created in 1967, and by 1975 had jurisdiction over almost all appeals of right from the circuit courts.  (The Court of Special Appeals is composed of thirteen judges, who hear cases in panels of three.  In rare instances, after a panel has decided a case, the court as a whole decides that the parties should reargue to the court sitting en banc, meaning to all thirteen judges.)  Cases that are heard by the Court of Special Appeals may then be heard as discretionary appeals by the Court of Appeals. 

 Since 1975, The Court of Appeals of Maryland, has been almost exclusively a "certiorari court."  The court is composed of seven judges and hears all cases en banc.  In two circumstances, the Court of Appeals hears an appeal of right; all death sentences are automatically docketed in and reviewed by the court of appeals, and occasionally a case that would normally be heard on appeal in the Court of Special Appeals is heard by the Court of Appeals instead.  This occurs either because one of the litigants successfully petitioned for, or the Court of Appeals on its own motion issued, a writ of certiorari "taking the case away from" the Court of Special Appeals. 

 The federal court system has a two-tier appellate system.  Appeals of right go from the federal district court to the United States Court of Appeals for the ____________ Circuit.  There are thirteen circuits (First Circuit through Eleventh Circuit, the District of Columbia Circuit, and the Federal Circuit).  Twelve of the circuits (the numbered circuits and the circuit for the District of Columbia) hear appeals based upon geographical origin of the case.  (Certain types of cases are directed by statute to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.)  The Federal Circuit hears appeals based upon the subject matter of the appeal, e.g., appeals from the United States Claims Court.  Appeals are heard in three-judge panels or, on occasion, by the circuit sitting en banc.  The number of judges per circuit varies.  Discretionary appeals from the federal circuit courts, as well as appeals in certain types of cases from the state courts of last resort, go to the Supreme Court of the United States.  The Supreme Court is composed of nine justices and hears all cases sitting en banc.  Petitions for writs of certiorari are granted by the Supreme Court if at least four justices vote to hear the case. 

Beyond these courts, there are many administrative agencies created by federal and state legislatures that also ajudicate disputes.  Many of these agencies exercise the quasi-legislative function of promulgating administrative regulations and the quasi-judicial function of adjudicating matters arising under those regulations.  When an administrative agency fulfills an adjudicatory function, the trial level is usually referred to as a hearing.  The judge and fact finder is a person usually called a hearing officer, hearing examiner, or administrative law judge.  This person takes testimony and evidence, makes findings of fact, applies law to fact, and then either renders a decision as a trial judge would, or makes a recommendation to an official who has the authority to render a decision. 

 Depending upon the structure of the administrative agency, there may be an appellate review level within the agency itself.  If there is no appellate review level within the agency, or if all administrative remedies have been exhausted, the parties usually may have the case reviewed by the judicial branch,  sometimes by a trial court acting as an appellate court and sometimes by an appellate court.